ESPN writer who shared fake quote from Nick Saban has been ‘disciplined’ by network

Nick Saban doesn’t need help from a writer when it comes to interesting quotes. The Alabama coach usually has a handle on that all by himself.

But on Monday, a bizarre quote attributed to Nick Saban began to circle the internet from what was believed to be a credible source in ESPN’s The Undefeated writer Mike Wise. As it turns out, the words were never uttered by Saban and it was all a failed attempt at humor by the reporter.

In a since-deleted Tweet, Wise attributed the following quote on “ugly race relations in America” to the Crimson Tide leader:

When other reporters sought verification of the hard-to-believe quote being assigned to Alabama’s head man, they quickly found out that the quote was not real.

Wise, to his credit, acknowledged that his “sarcastic tweet” missed the mark and apologized publicly after deleting the tweet.

But the drama did not end on Monday evening. By Tuesday afternoon, ESPN revealed that it has disciplined Wise for the move.

ESPN public relations representative Mike Soltys sent the following message out via Twitter:

No details were revealed on the severity of the discipline.

Usually when people cry “FAKE NEWS” it is met with a certain amount of skepticism. In this case, the “FAKE NEWS” call was 100-percent accurate.

Wise tweeted that he needed to take a week away from Twitter. We’d say that’s probably a good idea.